51,600 children. So many were born in Sweden during the first half of the year. Almost 3,000 fewer compared to the same period last year and a decrease of 5.5 percent, according to Statistics Sweden (SCB).
“Not since 2003 have fewer children been born in the first six months of the year, and then the total population was almost 1.6 million inhabitants less than today,” says Ann-Marie Persson, population statistician at Statistics Sweden in a press release.
In 48 of the country’s 290 municipalities, the number of newborns is the lowest in the entire 2000s, which is as far back as Statistics Norway’s half-yearly statistics extend. And in more than half of the country’s municipalities, the birth rate has decreased compared to the same period last year, Statistics Norway’s figures show.
Several of them are the country’s larger municipalities.
“The birth rate is decreasing in nine of the country’s ten largest municipalities. Only in Örebro is there an increase compared to last year, but it is marginal, 0.2 percent. If we look at the 20 largest municipalities, the birth rate is decreasing in 15 of these,” says Persson in the press release.